City-state (Civ5)
Introduction City-States are small political entities introduced in Civilization V. In essence, they are single-city civilizations that do not compete against you or for the victory. How you deal with them is your choice - you can coddle them to improve relations, and eventually make them your friends or even allies; or you can conquer them (The Mongolian civilization is specialised at conquering City-States); or you can just choose to ignore them. However, be mindful that they can be of immense help to you in the game, and also you will need them to achieve a Diplomatic Victory. All of the short musical themes for the City-States were composed by Roland Rizzo and some are adapted from pre-existing music. Types of City-States There are different types of City-States, depending on what they are focused on: Cultured, Maritime and Militaristic. Two new types of City-States, Religious and Mercantile, are added in the Gods & Kings expansion. Each different type of City-State will provide you with a different additional bonus when you develop relations with them: * Cultured City-States will give you Culture each turn * Maritime City-States will give you Food in all of your cities * Militaristic City-States will peroidically provide units to your army (You can ask them to stop gifting units anytime) * Religious City-States will give you Faith each turn in addition to a one-time bonus when first met * Mercantile City-States will provide unique luxury resources (Jewelry and Porcelain) to your empire (These resources cannot be obtained by any other means) Militaristic City-States have also been updated in Gods & Kings, giving them ability to gift you unique units from other civilizations (for example, the Chu-Ko-Nu, the Chinese unique unit). In addition, City-States also have a Personality trait, which can be Hostile, Neutral, Irrational or Friendly. This affects the default rate of influence change per turn and affects which quests they are more likely to give. City-State Tech Level and Army All City-States progress technologically, producing Science like all civilizations. Their tech level varies, but it follows the general tech level of the civilizations. This means when most civilizations are in the Medieval era, most City-States will be there too. They develop the necessary technologies to access resources, including late-game Strategic Resources, such as Oil. All City-States build an army and its size changes depending on the difficulty level. Their units' tech level follows the general tech level. This means when you decide to invade a City-State in the Modern Era, you can expect them to defend with Infantry, Artillery, etc. As a general rule, their army stays within, or close to, their borders. Sometimes, if they are at war with someone that has a city right nearby, the City-State will send their units to attack that city. In very rare cases they manage to capture another city, which is then added to their own territory (but there the expansion stops). Cities captured by a City-State will be razed if possible. City-States also build naval vessels, which sometimes explore the oceans far away from their territory (especially Caravels). It is also possible that a City-State builds an Airplane, although this is extremely rare. And also note that in Brave New World, City-States do not build Caravans, Cargo Ships or Archaeologists. Relations and Influence Relations with City-States depend on Influence points, which are organised in a scale going from -60 to +60. The amount of Influence points determines your influence level with the City-State. There are five different influence levels: * Neutral - You start on this level, and it means exactly what it says. The state is neither friendly, nor hostile. You can move units through its territory, but each turn your military units stay there will anger the City-State, diminishing Influence. * Friends - Gaining at least +30 Influence points will make you friends with the City-State. This causes the City-State to give you gifts based on their type, and grant you open borders to their territory. Note that a single City-State can have an unlimited number of friends - technically all civilizations may befriend it! * Allies - If you gain more than 60 points of positive Influence, you become the City-State's patron, or in other words, they become your Ally. This gets you larger gifts based on the type of the City-State, plus access to the City-State's luxury and strategic resources. You also gain permanent vision of the City-State's territory and units, and they automatically declare war on any civilization you are at war with. Finally, in later gameplay the voting power of the City-State is added to their Ally. Note that a single City-State may only have one Ally at a time. If more than one civilization have 60+ Influence points with it, it will ally itself with the one that has the most Influence. * Angry - If you push the Influence scale into negative territory, the City-State will become gradually more and more hostile to you. It may cancel quests it has given to you previously, and won't give you new quests until relations go back to Neutral. * War - On the other hand, the negative end of the Influence level scale is war. You can declare war against a City-State just like you declare war on another civilization, and the effects are pretty much the same as well. Once you irritate, harass and bully City-States enough, they will all join their forces and declare permanent war against you, which they will never stop - unless you conquer them, of course. If another civ is allied with a City-State and declares war on you, the City-State will do the same. You cannot make peace with the City-State directly in this case until you make peace with that civ. You cannot negotiate peace with City-States if you are in a permanent war. In Gods & Kings, there is a new influence status - Afraid. This is achieved by having a strong military presence near the City-State. You may request tribute from afraid City-States, for either some Gold or a Worker, but of course at the expense of Influence points (This may also result in their quests for you being cancelled). You can find some more information about Influence here. Interactions with City-states When you meet a City-State for the first time, a screen will appear, showing the name of the City-State, and its attribute and personality. City-States will gift you 15 Gold when you meet them for the first time (The Gold gift is doubled if you are the first to meet them). Clicking on a City-State name opens a simple menu which shows you their resources and your influence with them, besides their attribute and personality. There are various ways to increase the influence points you have with a City-State. The more basic ones are gifting Gold (having in mind that the net benefit in making a large payment is bigger than the one from small payments; also, the effect diminishes the more often you make payments), or gifting units (although the amount of influence points you get is very low). Also, City-States can give you a tiny influence boost per turn if you pledge to protect them. Influence has a natural tendency to gravitate towards the Resting Point of the scale, 0 by default. If positive, it will diminish each turn by 1 point, or if negative, it will increase each turn by 1 point. Certain civilization abilities and Social Policies (especially the Patronage tree) will change the speed with which influence changes naturally. Also, if the City-State shares the same religion as your official religion, influence will diminish 25% slower. And if you declare to be the City-State's Protector, the Resting Point of the scale will move up by 5. Quests Another way to gain influence with City-States is by performing quests for them. If they're at least Neutral to you, they'll occasionally contact you with a quest, and accomplishing it will give you influence points. The quest variety has been greatly expanded in Gods & Kings, there are some which are timed (for a max of 30 turns), some which apply to all civilizations in the game, while others apply only to you. The first kind is a race, where the civ which first meets the condition will gain influence. Here are the quests you can perform: *Destroy a nearby Barbarian camp *Kill Barbarian units near their lands (Can be done at all times, even if they don't call for it) *Acquire a Great Person of a certain kind *Construct a particular World Wonder *Find a Natural Wonder (Any will do) *Find a particular civilization's lands *Connect a certain resource to your trade network *Build a road to their city *Spread a certain religion to their city (Gods & Kings and Brave New World) *Conduct public infrastructure works (No specific goal, but gold gifts are more effective for 30 turns) *Help in a war against another civilization (By killing the enemy civ's units anywhere on the map) *Destroy another City-State (Only in vanilla) *Bully another City-State (Gods & Kings and Brave New World) When a City-State becomes victim of bullying (another civ demands tribute from them), they call for defense in one of the following manners, all of which only apply to you, and are valid for 30 turns: *Pledge protection to them - in this case only, the action will give you some influence *Denounce the civilization that bullied them *Give them a Gold gift - unlike the "Public Works" quest, this one is a single-use, giving you +20 Influence when you make the gift in addition to the regular influence effect Finally, City-States will "Call for ..." (some stats here, Culture, Faith or Technologies). These quests are timed, and apply to all civs. Whoever gathers more of the particular stat at the end of turn 30 will gain a large influence boost. Ties are allowed - in this case all civilizations that were tied will gain influence. Note: While the Culture and Faith races call for a gross collection of points, the Science race applies to the number of technologies discovered, and NOT science points gathered. All ways to discover tech are applicable, including Espionage and Wonders or Social Policies that give free techs. Protection If you pledge to protect a City-State, it raises your resting points by 5. If your influence is below your resting points, the influence increases every turn. Combined with the Consulates policy from the Patronage policy tree, you achieve a base resting point of 25. You can revoke protection of a City-State anytime after pledging to protect them, but then you will not be able to pledge again for a while. Tribute In Gods & Kings, there's a new interaction type - Ask for Tribute. This is literally bullying a City-State to give you either some Gold or a Worker, and can only be done with a large military presence close to the City-State. This will cause an immediate loss of Influence (You lose more Influence from demanding a Worker), and may also spark diplomatic incidents, if the City-State has a protector. In case you are protecting a City-State, and another civilization takes tribute from it, they'll expect you to at least express outrage. If you don't, you'll lose Influence and the protection will be automatically cancelled. Liberation A way to earn lots of influence points is liberating a City-State. This becomes possible after another civ has conquered a City-State, and you take it from them later - you can then choose to annex, puppet, or liberate it. Liberating a City-State makes it almost eternally grateful to you (meaning a lot of influence points), and the city is returned to the game as an individual City-State. Although the Allied status will still decrease over time, that City-State will always vote for the liberator in the United Nations (or World Leader) vote. Likewise, liberating a worker that belonged to a City-State from barbarians or an enemy civ will grant a lot of influence. Austria and Venice If a City-State is acquired by Austria through Diplomatic Marriage, or bought out by Venice using the Merchant of Venice, it loses the status of City-State and will act as though it were a settled city. The city can no longer be liberated, permanently removes delegates from the World Congress, and can be razed if captured by an enemy civ. Espionage and City-States Starting in Gods & Kings, the new Espionage system allows an additional way of manipulating City-State influence. You can now send one of your Spies into any City-State (even the ones you're currently at war with). Once they establish their surveillance network, your spies start manipulating the elections which are held regularly (every 12 turns). When doing this, they try to smuggle people in the government which are more friendly to your civ, and less so to other civs. If they rig an election successfully, your influence level with the City-State rises, while the influence of all other civs falls. Normally, the boost is enough not only to offset the natural decline in influence, but also to bump it up a bit. Eventually, you will become Friends and later Allies with this City-State. Rigging elections may not work if there is a rival spy in the City-State. In this case, you have to beat a check based on the experience level of the two spies, plus any other special bonuses. But if you don't feel like waiting for the City-State's allegiance, you can order your Spy to Stage a Coup. This more extreme action attempts to completely replace the current government with the one full of your supporters. If successful, the City-State becomes your Ally, and yours and their former Ally's influence levels switch. Also, all other civs lose some influence. The chance of success depends on several factors, among them the Spy's level, your current Influence level with the City, etc. Note that a Coup is only possible if the City-State currently has an Ally. Also, a failed Coup results in your Spy's death, as well as loss of some influence with the City-State. Use this option with care! It is possible to stage a coup in a City-State you're currently at war with. If successful, you can immediately make peace with it, even if their current patron is still at war with you! City-States and Diplomatic Victory City-States play a major role in diplomatic victories. When the United Nations wonder is built, a UN vote is scheduled every once in a while to vote for a world leader. Every City-State in play will vote for its ally or choose to abstain. It is crucial to get City-States to back you, for they are the tie breakers. It is relatively simple to obtain votes from City-States if quests they have issued have been completed. It is also possible to gain influence by bribery, and maxing out the influence possible by completing "investment projects" will give the best bang for the buck. Depending on how the game is configured (number of Civilizations and City-States), the City-States are necessary for having the majority vote. Brave New World With the introduction of the World Congress, City-States also receive an even larger role in achieving a diplomatic victory. From the Industrial Era and then, you can acquire more delegates by making allies of City-States. The more City-States allied with you, the more additional delegates you get. The conditions for a diplomatic victory remain the same. However, in Brave New World, rather than being an actual World Wonder, the United Nations now develops automatically from the Congress. This occurs when any civilization reaches the Information Era, OR at least half the world's civilizations reach the Atomic Era. From then, a vote for the World Leader will be held every 20 turns. Known bugs A City-State can conquer another city. The conquered city will be razed (except for capital or another City-State). If you click on that city, it will bring you to the City-State screen. If you are at war with a major civilization, and the enemy major civilization liberates one of your captured cities that was once a City-State, all your troops will be pushed out from that city's border, despite the fact that you will be at war with said City-State. If you recieve a city that once was a City-State through a deal (or a peace treaty), you will not have the liberate option for that City-State. List of City-States The following are comprehensive lists of the City-States that can be found in the game. Mercantile and Religious City-states were added in the Gods & Kings expansion pack. Note that there are a limited number of City-States generated in the beginning of each game (depending on map size). The particular City-States are selected randomly among all five types, and distributed evenly around the map. The traits of a City-State with a particular name are always the same (i.e. Almaty will always be Militaristic), regardless of its location on the map; however, the resources it has access to may differ according to its location from game to game (so that Almaty won't always have Iron and Cotton, for example). City-State Changes Pre-Expansion Sydney replaced Copenhagen as a City-State a day after the Denmark DLC pack was released. Quebec City replaced Oslo as a City-State as well. Kathmandu replaced Seoul as a City-State when the Korea DLC pack was released, the same day the August 2011 patch was released. Gods & Kings Dublin, Edinburgh, Helsinki, Stockholm and Vienna were removed as City-States and became individual cities of a few new civilizations (The Celts, Sweden and Austria). New City-States included in Gods & Kings: *Milan, Prague and Yerevan (Cultured) *Jakarta, Lisbon, Manila and Mombasa (Maritime) *Antwerp, Cahokia, Colombo, Hong Kong, Marrakech, Zanzibar and Zurich (Mercantile) *Valletta (Militaristic) *Jerusalem, La Venta, Vatican City and Wittenberg (Religious) Geneva and Lhasa have been changed from Cultured into Religious. Genoa and Singapore have been changed from Maritime into Mercantile. Tyre has been changed from Militaristic into Mercantile. Brave New World Jakarta, Lisbon, Marrakech, Rio de Janeiro, Venice and Warsaw were removed as City-States and became the capitals of many new civilizations (Indonesia, Portugal, Morocco, Brazil, Venice and Poland, respectively). New City-States included in Brave New World: *Bratislava, Buenos Aires, Kyzyl, Kabul and Kiev (Cultured) *Byblos, Mogadishu, Ormus, Panama City, Riga, Ur and Vancouver (Maritime) *Antananavario, Malacca, Melbourne and Samarkand (Mercantile) *M'banza Kongo and Sofia (Militaristic) *Ife (Religious) Kathmandu has been changed from Cultured into Religious. Three new City-States were added in the Fall 2013 patch: *Bogota (Cultured) *Wellington (Maritime) *Vilnius (Mercantile) Achievements related to City-States Category:City-states Category:Civilizations (Civ5) Category:Civilizations Category:Civilization V Category:Cities Category:City concepts Category:Game concepts